Tag: Cornbread

That’s what I learned after I searched the internet this weekend for a low carb cornbread recipe. What I discovered were two recipes (among many) that proved to me that a cornbread can be made without cornmeal. It was important to me to find a low carb recipe to go with my White Chicken Chili recipe. After all, what is chili without cornbread.

The first recipe for “cornbread” required both almond and hazelnut flours, which were $11.00 each at Whole Foods. But I should have been wary. There were no photographs to show that the recipe was indeed kitchen tested. This “cornbread” was inedible; it was oily and tasteless. So, tonight–I am nothing it not determined– I tried the second recipe, this one from lowcarbist.com, called Green Onion Cornbread. This website had great pictures of the cornbread.

Though it also has not one bit of cornmeal in it, it turned out light and moist in texture, a great low carb accompaniment to my White Chicken Chili. I tweaked the recipe a bit. I thought it would be easier to mix if I melted the butter. Like all quick breads, this one shouldn’t be over mixed either. In fact, my cornbread came out exactly like the pictured one!

I shouldn’t write when I’m tired! I was rushing to get the last post out because I didn’t want to forget what happened at last Saturday’s class. Not my best writing!

Normally I don’t try new recipes in mid-week but I needed to do something different. Sometimes you just have to mix it up! It’s also an America’s Test Kitchen recipe so I can trust it to work. Because there are many ingredients and there is much cutting and chopping, I recommend prepping all ingredients before cooking. At the French Culinary Institute they call this mis en place literally “put in place.” Somehow I skipped over the garlic (imagine that! And me a garlic lover!) and had to pause the process to chop up some garlic. This recipe took about 1 1/2 hours from prepping to finish–the chicken breast version, mind you.

This white chicken chili is a tasty recipe but I warn you, it’s hot! You can tone it down by eliminating the seeds and veins of the chilies. Oh, and if you can’t find Anaheim chilies (I couldn’t) then add an extra jalapeño and poblano chili to the ingredients, or be brave and add 3 Thai chili peppers, as I did! I served it with roasted vegetables and low-fat cornbread from a recipe on about.com .

1. Season chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add chicken, skin side down, and cook without moving until skin is golden brown, about 4 minutes. Using tongs, turn chicken and lightly brown on other side, about 2 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate; remove and discard skin.

3. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from Dutch oven (adding additional vegetable oil if necessary) and reduce heat to medium. (I had very lean chicken breasts so there was only a tablespoon of liquid in the pan.) Add 1/2 the minced jalapeños, chili-onion mixture, garlic, cumin, coriander, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables soften, about 10 minutes. Remove pot from heat.

5. Using tongs, transfer chicken to large plate. Stir in remaining beans and continue to simmer, uncovered, until beans are heated through and chili has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes.

6. When cool enough to handle (about 10 minutes), shred chicken into bite-sized pieces, discarding bones. Stir shredded chicken, lime juice, cilantro, scallions, and remaining minced jalapeño (with seeds if desired) into chili and return to simmer. Taste. In my first mouthful I detected the full flavor of the chilies, the fresh taste of cilantro and the tartness of lime juice, so, no, it didn’t need salt and pepper. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper, if you like. Serve. I roasted vegetables so I wouldn’t be tempted to eat more than two pieces of cornbread, which keeps the carb intake low!